Stepping Back from the Front
April 2, 2018
Louis Barthas; Translated by Edward M. Strauss— In March 1918, after more than forty months on the front lines, under daily threat of violent death, disease, or dismemberment, French infantry… READ MORE
Category: History
Ep. 51 – Why Baseball Matters
March 29, 2018
Baseball is America’s Pastime but can it survive in the technological era when games are longer than most attention spans? Susan Jacoby, author and longtime baseball fan, discusses the history… READ MORE
Ep. 50 – The Art of Libation in Classical Athens
March 22, 2018
Explore the prevalence and the significance of images of liquids being poured from vessels in the fascinating and beautiful artworks of 5th century Athens. Yale associate professor Milette Gaifman, with… READ MORE
To Go or Not To Go
March 13, 2018
Hasia R. Diner— Balancing the choices open to them—staying put; going to a big city in Europe, the Ottoman Empire, or North Africa; or emigrating to the new world— consumed… READ MORE
George Sand’s Search for Spirituality
March 9, 2018
Thomas Kselman— “Since no one was instructing me in religion, it occurred to me I needed one, and I made one for myself. ” – George Sand, History of My Life… READ MORE
Remembering William F. Buckley Jr
March 7, 2018
Alvin S. Felzenberg— When friends, colleagues, and relatives learned that I was writing a book about William F. Buckley Jr., they almost universally had the same response: “Oh, what fun!”… READ MORE
Ep. 48 – The History of Modern Iran
March 1, 2018
What events have shaped Iran as we know it today? What lies at the foundation of Iran’s culture and society? Where does it see itself on the global stage? Abbas… READ MORE
Ep. 47 – A Cultural History of Extraordinary Bodies
February 15, 2018
How have we used size to judge people over time? What is the history of size in popular culture? Lynne Vallone discusses how bodies both big and small influence our… READ MORE
Divided Lands
Hasia R. Diner— Nearly every place the immigrant Jewish peddlers went, with the exception of the British Isles and Scandinavia, they stumbled into societies in which color mattered. In some… READ MORE
Workers of the World
February 13, 2018
Niall Kishtainy— A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of communism.’ This is the first line of The Communist Manifesto, which was written in the middle of the nineteenth century and… READ MORE
From 9/11 to 9/11: The Widening of the Atlantic